Moving to COVID thread to avoid derailing:
so Putin waited until the peak of Covid crisis is already upon the US,
What if I told you the Omnicron peak in Jan 2022 is the peak of the COVID crisis in US, exceed the Delta peak in Jan 2021? But could Putin foresaw an even larger surge in the future? Does he have a crystal ball?
and effective vaccine has become widely available,
US achieved 1 million deaths mostly in 2021-2022, when the vaccine is available. Omicron deaths exceeded Delta deaths at it's peak.
so the severity of the crisis most likely would only decline from then on,
You mean West wishing the pandemic goes away?
But 11 month before, when it was already clear the US and the west is heading into what is clearly a very bad crisis that would not culminate for quite some time, Putin did nothing?
You mean Putin timed his invasion right after US hit it's worst wave ever (due to Omicron)?
In hindsight, it's even better for Putin to wait, since COVID was it's worst in the United States in Jan 2022, far exceeding the Delta peak in Jan 2021 when he first made his decision.
"SAD" on my comment. When our government lift the mask mandate means we are confident enough to tame the virus. When there are only a little more than a dozen new cases a day, I don't see why we still have to wear mask in the public like while I'm riding motorcycle. I don't think virus would fly in from the air. As for closed area where aircon are on, yes, we better put our masks on.
